Local Film

For starters, Indie Memphis announced the creation of a new series of forums covering technical filmmaking production topics, called Shoot & Splice. The first event is Tuesday, April 8th, at 7 p.m., when Erik Morrison, video expert at LensRentals.com, discusses "Choosing the Right Equipment for Any Job." Morrison has many credits in local films, primarily as a principle at Corduroy Wednesday Film Company.

Indie Memphis is partnering with Crosstown Arts for Shoot & Splice, and the pair are also reviving the MicroCinema Club, a popular monthly short film series that ran from 2004 to 2009. MicroCinema Club returns Thursday, April 24th, at 7 p.m. "This collaboration with Crosstown Arts couldn't have happened at a better time," says Indie Memphis Executive Director Erik Jambor. "We had been exploring ideas for a monthly filmmaking forum and looking for the right venue to bring back MicroCinema Club, and thanks to community demand and to support from Arts First, the First Tennessee Foundation, and ArtsMemphis, everything came together to allow us to launch both programs this month."

The Memphis film company Timid Monster has launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund its next project, ARV-3 based on an Amazon.com bestseller by Cameo Renae. The post-apocalyptic thriller will be filmed in Memphis, and producers have recruited Hollywood prosthetic/makeup ace Matt Singer for creature design. Timid Monster is a sci-fi/fantasy company with credits that include Avarice and John Gray. It's looking to raise $7,500 for the film. "We filmed a teaser trailer with absolutely no resources," says Timid Monster's Rachel M Taylor. "With the resources, we will make something Memphis can really be proud of."

The Kickstarter runs through April 17th and, as of press time, is already more than halfway there. For more information, go to timidmonster.com.

Another film on the horizon, though likely much closer to being seen, is Lights Camera Bullshit, a feature from Piano Man Pictures. The story follows a Memphian trying "to combat the mania of local filmmaking as political tensions grow stronger and stronger, threatening to undo everything he hopes to achieve," says producer and star Eric Tate (The Poor & Hungry). The film's trailer is live at pianomanpictures.com. Lights Camera Bullshit, directed by Chad Allen Barton, also began life as a Kickstarter, and it is now in post-production.